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As many of you already know by now, I was modded on December 4th, 2005, and I'm sure many of you are wondering just why in the world I became modded. My answer is simple:

I've no idea what so ever.

Honestly! They don't give us specific reasons for being elected moderators. I guess it's a way to safe-guard the title, or something. I guess you just have to be a good-natured person is all. I found it a bit surprising, to be quite honest, and quickly answered the call. Yes, I knew what I was getting myself into, and yes, I accepted the fact that it wasn't going to be all fun and games - I knew that for a fact.

However, I felt I could do it. What have I got to lose, eh?

So here I was, waiting a good, long week for the event to occur.

I was asked not to tell anyone of this happening, and I did my best to hide the secret. By the end of the week, I had only told a good friend of mine, Kira, because I went ballistic as soon as I saw the PM, and Elphelba, since I knew her in real life. If word got out that I was going to become a moderator, who knows what would have happened. I'd probably not be in the position that I am right now! I knew I could trust these two individuals, more or less, so I wasn't too dubious about doing so. In the end, it was still a secret and I managed to survive without telling another soul.

Another thing that occured during that week would be the utter paranoia I had. For the first few days, I kept wondering, "Would a moderator do that?" "Would they care about that?" "Would I be allowed to say this?" "Does a moderator sound like that?" It was a bit torturous, to say the least. Whenever I entered into a discussion, I felt a bit anxious about saying anything that sounded offensive. I mean... moderators can't be offensive, right? (Eh, somewhat.) But in the end, I managed to get out of that alive as well.

So here I was on a Saturday afternoon, typing away on Gaia. I posted in a particular thread that was probably a scam, and I lurked around it as people suddenly quoted me here and there and were acting strangely respectful to me all of the sudden. "Thank you, Airez. I couldn't have said it better myself." I thought, "What? Eh... well, glad I could help." A few moments later, an AIM window popped up and a friend of mine, Final Act, typed out in all caps "DUDE! WHEN DID YOU BECOME A MODERATOR?!?!"

"Well it's about friggin' time!" I thought, secretly of course.

I calmly explained to him what happened and people started going nuts. My inbox was filling up faster than I'd have liked to imagine. And I received a PM from one of the GCD's Helpers, Triskdemon, asking my opinion on that one scam thread and how my post threw him off. I responded to him and gave my truly honest opinion about it, then continued on to discover this new world of mine.

So this is what it was like to be a moderator...

I was opened up to a whole new world, one full a secrets that I cannot reveal. Eh, nothing to spectacular, mind you, but it does make my Gaian life interesting. I was one of over twenty new moderators enlisted on to the Gaian Staff, and I hardly recognized anyone's names also. I felt a bit alienated amongst the crowd, but the familiar names of famous moderators brought me some ease, fortunately. I felt like I could trust them and their judgement, and I soon found myself acting like the usual person that I am. It was quite fun knowing that the moderators aren't stuck up, snobby, holier-than-thou individuals that many make them out to be, but I knew that already.

So now I had plenty of reading to do. A nice little guideline was given to me, and it showed what I should do in given situations, what procedures I had to go about, and what some cases entailed. However, the guide wasn't nearly as helpful as the experience the older moderators had. I can't thank them enough to contacting me and helping me with this new world of obligations and power.

And so, I began my journey of taking care of reports. I chose to be a moderator for the GCD and Barton Town, a small task (I thought). As I opened my report box, I blinked and I think my eye-twitched a few times at what I saw. Apparently, the reports were backed up for quite a while. I received almost nothing from Barton Town, but oh GCD... you GCD you... boy were you guys backed up for quite a while.

No matter, I thought, this task shouldn't be too hard. I'm very familiar with how to handle these situations. Ha, man... was I wrong there. I apologize to the other moderators for all the questions I had for them. Whenever I was uneasy with a report, I ran to them and asked what in the heck I should do. "Does this belong here?" "Is this really considered flaming?" "Eh... spam?" Yes, I thought I knew what I was getting into, but the task was much more daunting that I could imagine. However, like the good people they are, the other moderators had infinite patience with me. I felt like a friend in their presence, and quickly worked on those reports once more. Oi, I was in for a long night.

But, I was in the presence of Yuzi_K and terradi, two of the GCD moderators, and quite the nice young ladies too! Yuzi had wonderful insight on how just about EVERYTHING worked, and had a good grasp on just about every situation I tossed her way. Terradi was very helpful as well, and I had a fun time joking around with her as we both sliced through those reports, taking them down one by one.

Aye, and the first day of reporting is one of the most stressful, as I mentioned. As soon as I had to give out a warning, I quickly asked if it was alright and if the situation called for it. When the first over-sized signature came around, I wasn't too sure of the procedure, and quickly asked for instructions (it's very easy now). And oh ho ho... I was very nervous about moving threads that was large and literate. I prepared for a mouthful as soon as I moved the first one of those; I was a bit scared, to be honest. However, the person treated me with the utmost respect, and understood the situation entirely. What a relief for me!

Oh.. and I worked through the night, taking the posts down. I must say that you GCDers sure like that report button, but I can't complain. It's better that all of you report threads and posts when you see them. I don't mind it at all, and I felt better knowing that I'm helping to clean up the forums. I'm also thankful to the Helpers that took the trouble of helping me out with the threads. Many times did I open a report, check out the thread, and find that it was already moved before I could do anything about it. Ah well, dequere and move on. Eventually, at 3am, I managed to clear out the reports for the GCD (along with the help of other moderators), and four days worth of backlog had been done.

Oh, but now we had the daunting task of the reports from the rest of Gaia.

Eh.. hehe.. heh heh... eeeehhh... *coughs* Yes, moderators will work on reports from other areas when they have none from their own. That's why you might see a moderator from a different section of Gaia handling your report.

So, after a long day of reporting, I flopped into bed and snoozed until dawn.

Sunday commenced with the usual. More reports after more reports. It wasn't too bad, really. I looked in my profile and noted how many comments I received, mostly congratulations for the new title I had. A big thank you to anyone that bothered to do that.

Mm... so Monday rolls around and I wake up late in the afternoon (it was a long night, so sue me), and I find that our reports have dwindled down to a very tiny amount. I believe it was around 5 o'clock that our entire report box was empty. Clean. Free of harm. No reports. Apparently, this was a miraculous event. To celebrate, I made a fun little sign that read:



Ha HA! Ya darn right we do.

Mm, that made my day, and the day of everyone else apparently.

So, over the weekend and Monday, I dealt with spammers, flamers, trollers, harassers, cyberers, and just about every other offence you can think of, all the way down to art theft. It was a good way to start, I suppose. Eventually, I had a hand at dealing with a fun little flame war, and Dri helped me out with that. Many thanks to our Administration.

And thus... my journey as a wee modling continues. Until next time!